Long, Lost Friend
by sodamonster
Summary: One of the only creatures (and a female, too!) that has ever tolerated Zim comes to visit, and Dib has issues with her. Let me know what you think.
1. The Space Bunny and Dib

Author Speaks: This is a horribly pointless story that I wrote when I was very sleepy. Just read it like I wrote it; do not expect any amount of greatness. Anyhow, constructive critiscisms will always be welcomed, and flames will always be smothered with laughter.  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the thoughts in my head. And maybe the characters I create.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ Gaz looked up from her GameSlave 5, hoping to see her brother walking towards the door. When she didn't see this, she grumbled, saved her game, and went to it herself. She opened the door and saw a scantily clad and bleeding young woman with an cold look on her face. Gaz raised an eyebrow and said:  
  
"Hello."  
  
The young woman, thinking that this girl was an android, skipped the pleasantries.  
  
"Is Zim here?"  
  
"Hang on," Gaz boredly replied.  
  
She trudged over to the bottom of the stairs.  
  
"Dib! Come get the door!"  
  
Then she went back to her previous spot and resumed playing her game.  
  
Curious, the lady peered in the open door and looked towards where the girl had yelled. Thumping down the stairs, rubbing his eyes, was a young man of about 17, with black, pointy hair, glasses, and pale-ish white skin. This person was obviously not Zim. He walked up to the door, still half-asleep, but woke right up when he noticed what was there: a beautiful girl of 20, he thought, with long, wavy brown hair and piercing blue eyes, wearing practically nothing other than a torn silver bra-type-thingy and a matching pair of equally messed up micro-shorts. And she was injured, trying her best not to lean up against the doorframe. Dib thought she looked like a sexy space-bunny, without the bunny stuff. Then he remembered that he was supposed to speak.  
  
"Oh, um, hi. How can I help you?"  
  
His slight blush and grin fell from his face when she told him she is looking for Zim, and not for him.  
  
"Oh, he's over-" pointing in the direction of Zim's house, and then paused.  
  
"Uh, how about I take you there? It's not far."  
  
She agreed and waited for him to put on his boots and trench coat.  
  
After a pause, he said that she "didn't look so good." This made her frown, and then grin.  
  
"I have my reasons."  
  
"I'll be right back, Gaz!"  
  
He then shut the door and took her arm to support her as they started on their way.  
  
Dib battled himself on whether or not to ask some prodding questions. Over the years he had become wary of what his said or asked. His curiosity eventually got the better of him.  
  
"So, why do you want to see Zim?"  
  
She peered over at him speculatively.  
  
"You are the boy that knows his secret? He has told me of a boy that has your appearance," she asked.  
  
He looked surprised, but nodded at her, waiting for her to continue. She considered him for a second more, and then consented.  
  
"I am here for medical supplies, fuel, food, and-" she smiled, "- companionship. Zim is the closest friend to my path that can give me those things."  
  
Dib looked over at her, half confused, half disgusted that anyone could befriend such a being. She noticed this look and chuckled.  
  
"Zim really is quite an interesting little fellow to be around. He's also a wonderful conversationalist and very humorous, too."  
  
Dib 'hmphed' and shook his head sadly.  
  
"You two are not good friends, are you?" she questioned.  
  
Dib grinned at this, "You could say that, I guess. We stopped trying to kill each other, but we still mess up each others plans as often as possible."  
  
He shook off the memory of that fateful day of reconcile.  
  
The two stopped when they reached Zim's funky-looking abode and gestured to it.  
  
"This is it." 


	2. COMPUTER! TERMINATE DIB!

They both walked up to the door with the 'mens room' sign on it and grinned at the noise coming from within. Gir had apparently just broken something important and Zim was screaming at him. Dib wrung the doorbell and the screaming abruptly stopped. The young woman assured him that she could stand on her own, so Dib released her arm. The two waited for a minute, probably for Zim to put his disguise on.  
  
The Zim that opened the door was not the Zim the young woman had remembered from so long ago. For one, this Zim had black hair, similar to Dibs, and his eyes were human looking and periwinkle. The most noticeable thing was his height; he had gone from the size of a human 3rd grader to a few inches shorter than Dib, who was 6'1". It's amazing what Earth gravity can do for an Irken! Zim and the female stood there staring at each other until Gir poked his head between his master's legs to make sure he wasn't paralyzed or something fun like that. The little robot looked up at the young woman whose mouth was gaped slightly, and squealed "HI!!!" at her. This brought her out of her trance.  
  
"Zim?" she choked out.  
  
And then, either from shock or blood loss, or a combination of both, she collapsed. Zim awoke from his own shock just in time to catch her. Unfortunately, the Earth's gravity had only helped with Zim's height, not his strength, although that, too, had increased slightly. He almost fell down from her weight, even as slight as it was.  
  
"Dib-human! Help.would be.appreciated." he gasped out as he struggled to stay upright.  
  
"Oh, right! Sorry."  
  
Dib wrapped an arm around the wounded girl's abdomen and shifted her weight from Zim to himself, then put his other arm under her knees and stood up. Zim stood, too, after muttering something about his spine.  
  
They both entered the oddly colored house. Gir had run over to the TV to be out of the way, surprisingly still interested in the goings-on.  
  
"Where do you want her?" inquired Dib.  
  
Zim pointed to his couch.  
  
"There will be fine."  
  
Dib moved to put here there, slightly miffed that he didn't even get a 'thanks' or some other sign of gratitude.  
  
Zim approached the couch and glanced over his friend's cuts and bruises.  
  
"Computer! Scan Rin for injuries, then treat them."  
  
A few seconds later, a cold compress fell next to Zim from the ceiling. Zim rubbed at his face irritatedly.  
  
"I have got to fix that."  
  
He put the thing on her forehead anyways.  
  
"Gir, bring me the box of medical supplies."  
  
Dib looked surprised. "You know how to fix her?"  
  
Gir ran off to get the stuff and Zim looked over at Dib like he was a moron.  
  
"Of course I do. How do you think I was able to survive Gir all these years?"  
  
He was going to add a 'stupid human!' to it, but he was feeling nice today. His only real friend had come to see him, even if she was injured. A moment or so of silence passed, and Dib couldn't stand being in Zim's house without prodding and searching.  
  
"So, her name's Rin?"  
  
Zim didn't look up, and wasn't even bothered by Dib's presence.  
  
"Yes. And yes, she is an 'alien'."  
  
Zim grinned evilly at the thought to not tell him that she was a warrior of her planet and would likely kill him on reflex when she revived.  
  
"Here ya go!"  
  
Zim automatically winced and shielded his head. Normally when Gir said something like that, it was followed by something heavy being launched at him, often resulting in a concussion. Much to Zim's pleasant surprise, Gir had placed the box of stuff next to him and stood by, waiting to see if he could help, a goofy grin on his face. Dib and Zim exchanged stunned looks. Then Zim, smiling inwardly, turned back to Gir.  
  
"Gir, why don't you go make Rin some muffins?"  
  
Gir's can-like eyes squinched shut in glee, then he shouted, "I'm gonna make MUFFINS! Whoo hehe HOO!!!"  
  
He then ran off to the kitchen. Zim watched his little robot go and sort of smiled, then opened the box and started taking Irken medicines and stuff out, putting them on the floor next to him and kneeling down at Rin's head/chest area. He opened a little container full of what Dib thought was sawdust and sprinkled on her largest cuts. It immediately soaked up her spilt blood and stopped her from bleeding anymore. Dib watched this with great interest.  
  
"Anything I can do?"  
  
Zim looked up at him for a second and then figured that he was no threat at the moment.  
  
Zim handed Dib a half-empty tube of clear goo.  
  
"Dab this on the minor cuts."  
  
Dib nodded and unscrewed the cap and squirted a tiny bit of the goo onto the tip of his index finger. It smelt like glue. What was it with Irkens and glue? He knelt down by Rin's legs and started gently dabbing it on her cuts very slowly and carefully. Zim glanced over at him and noticed how very slowly he was working and yelled at him.  
  
"That sealant is VERY painful when applied to open cuts! If you go so very, very slowly like that, Rin will wake up in pain, OH the pain!! I won't stop her from chopping your big head right off!"  
  
Dib smirked at him and continued to put the stuff on, only faster this time. Zim glared at Dib and his smirk.  
  
Dib replied to Zim's glare in a taunting voice, "You lOvE her, don't you?"  
  
Zim squinted an eye at him.  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
The green alien didn't like where this was headed.  
  
"It's so obvious, Zim. You stare at her for an eternity at the door, you don't want to see her in pain, and now you're blushing! Heh heh, that's very cute, Zim."  
  
Zim's cheeks were a lovely shade of purple.  
  
"Just because someone has compassion for another life form doesn't necessarily mean that he loves her, Dib!!"  
  
Dib's smirk turned to a sly smile.  
  
"You sure are a sensitive little guy, aren't you?"  
  
That was it.  
  
Zim stood up quickly and bellowed, "COMPUTER!! TERMINATE DIB!!"  
  
Dib stood up laughing and laughed some more as he ran outside and slammed the door shut. A cold compress bounced off the door moments after.  
  
"Stupid computer."  
  
Dib grinned the whole way home. He now had a new weapon against Zim. 


	3. Enter the Playmate

Zim continued to growl and mumble as he went back to fixing his old friend up. He picked up the little tube Dib had dropped and continued to apply the stuff. He was almost done when Rin squeezed her already closed eyes shut more and sucked in a pained breath. Zim jumped up, startled, and looked down at her worriedly.  
  
Rin frowned and opened her eyes slightly and managed to mumble, "You jerk. That stings."  
  
Forced healing can take a lot out of a person. Zim collected himself and grinned down at her. She was probably in more pain than she was letting out, but her warrior training allowed her to control herself. He sat down on the edge of the couch by her stomach and helped her sit up some.  
  
She shut her eyes for a second to fend off the wave of dizziness that took her, then re-opened them and smiled happily at Zim.  
  
"My, you have changed. You're possibly more handsome than I remember."  
  
His grin grew larger, along with his ever-inflatable ego.  
  
"And you appear to be more susceptible to injury than I remember. How did you get in such bad health?"  
  
She looked at herself, as if noticing her injuries for the first time.  
  
"I'm not as good at landing as I am at fighting, I suppose."  
  
Zim stared at her for a moment, looking for an answer to the question he hadn't asked yet.  
  
"What are you doing here, Rin? Why would you risk being caught seen with me? Don't you know-"  
  
"Yes. I know what your leaders did to you. And it doesn't matter. Sure, it might sting a little, but you have made yourself a home here, all by yourself."  
  
She tried to give him an encouraging smile, but he turned away from her, ashamed.  
  
"That's not what I asked. Why are YOU here? My own planet despises me. You should be running away from me in fear."  
  
Rin was utterly shocked at Zim's loss of characteristic confidence. She stood up quickly and marched over to him, kneeling down in front of his face.  
  
"Now you look, Zim, do you remember the story I told you years ago?"  
  
Zim brushed the story away as irrelevant, but she continued.  
  
"Korter and Zana, two citizens from my planet, were sent into exhile millennia ago. Their stupidity and irresponsibility was, in one instance, unforgivable."  
  
Zim scoffed at the comparison of the two idiots to him.  
  
"Do you know where they were sent, Zim? Hm? You now SIT on THEIR LAND. You walk with their children. The people of Earth are the descendents of a great race of aliens that they know nothing about."  
  
"Well," Zim laughed, "Earth must be the hot spot for the idiots of the universe, huh?"  
  
Rin scowled at him, standing back up.  
  
"I suppose so, if you can't see the meaning in my words."  
  
Zim sighed and stood up as well, walking over to his window.  
  
"Yes yes, I understand. Even stupid people can do great things. Wonderful. But you're evading my question!"  
  
He walked back over to Rin, waiting for a straight answer. When she just looked at him, he became frustrated.  
  
"What?? You're not as STUPID as I am, so a simple question shouldn't BOGGLE YOUR PRETTY LITTLE MIND! What is some one as beautiful as you doing ON THE SAME PLANET AS ME?? And don't lie and say, "Oh Zimmy, I was just in the neighborhood, so I decided to-" Bah! Go on, spit it out! What's a little more embarrassment for ZIM, right?? He can handle it, he's a FRIGGIN' MORON!!"  
  
Zim stopped shouting and fumed for a moment, acknowledging the fact that he had just screamed at his only friend.  
  
"That's no way to talk to someone that cares about you, Zim. They might just forget they love you and leave you here to rot in your own self-pity."  
  
That statement alone passed straight into Zim's 'ear', wiggled around a bit, and then jumped ship, leaving him as clueless as he started. Rin rolled her eyes, deciding that Zim needed a more direct answer. She snatched Zim's confused face and pulled it towards her own, pressing her lips against his as gently as possible.  
  
Rin pulled away a moment later to see if Zim had gotten it yet. Apparently he had. His eyes were so wide and unfocussed that they threatened to release his contacts, and his lower jaw was twitching spastically.  
  
"Dummy."  
  
"Muffins are done! COME AND GET 'EM!!!!"  
  
Zim was used to Gir's random shouts, but Rin was not, so she spun around and whipped out her tiny laser from her belt, pointing it at the little android. Zim woke from his happy daze just in time to stop Gir from being blown to pieces.  
"Gir, come here."  
  
Gir slowly sauntered in, thinking he would be yelled at for being so rude to the guest. He brought his colorful muffins along as a peace offering. He walked over to the couch and stopped a safe distance from his master, who was helping Rin off of his lap and back onto the couch.  
  
"Rin, I would like you to meet my S.I.R unit, Gir," he chuckled.  
  
Rin turned to the tiny bot she almost decimated, and smiled apologetically at it.  
  
"I apologize, Gir, you startled me. I have heard a lot about you, actually, and should have been prepared for your, uh, enthusiasm."  
  
Gir put his plate of food on the floor and attacked Rin in a hug. She had to stop herself from yelping in pain as he pressed against her wounds. She smiled and patted his little head instead. Zim frowned at his android and told him to calm down, which he did, and handed out his snacks.  
  
Rin looked at the thing Gir had just handed her and looked at Zim questioningly. Gir shoved a few into his own mouth as Zim tried to explain.  
  
"It's called a muffin; a human snack food full of yummy goodness. About the only thing that the humans are good at is creating delicious foodstuffs. Oh, and the wrapper-thingy is not edible."  
  
His mouth twitched in amusement as she located the 'wrapper-thingy' and attempted to remove it from the edible part. She watched Zim as he showed her how, and then copied him, smiling proudly at her new knowledge.  
  
The two spent the rest of the evening catching up, sharing memories, and Zim explaining what he knew of Earthlings to her. After a while, Zim commanded his computer to create a bed for Rin to sleep on, and surprisingly, it listened to him. A small, comfortable bed rose up from the floor next to the couch.  
  
"Zim, does this planet have the necessary equipment to fix the propulsion system of my ship?"  
  
Zim thought it over and regretfully said that he wasn't sure.  
  
"Hmm.Do you think that the Dib-boy would know? He is a human, after all," Rin suggested.  
  
Zim was still ticked off at Dib for embarrassing him, and he really didn't want Rin to leave, but he also didn't want to trap her here. He replied huffily that he would ask him in the morning.  
  
She was satisfied with this and lay down on her bed. Soon she was fast asleep. Zim also lay down on his couch, but did not sleep. He stayed awake for most of the night watching Rin. He didn't admit it out loud, but he had missed her, and missed having someone logical to talk to. Although, he was slightly distraught at how calm and at peace he felt with her. He hadn't yelled at all since, well, since Dib left, actually. He watched her chest rise and fall with each breath, and watched her mouth move every once in a while, uttering nonsensical things; he smiled as he remembered that she was a horrible sleep-talker. Soon, his eyes began to feel the pull of sleep, and slowly let it consume him. 


End file.
